Fifty Shades of Green

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.   

 Khalil Gibran 

A large burst of rolling Canadian-shield leads from the front of the cabin down to the water’s edge. Dotted with windswept regal pine trees, whom like the diverse patchwork of plants and grasses and mosses, have managed to secure roots in the nooks and creases and thrive on this ancient rock. Ants and insects rush about on the surface and bees and butterflies and dragonflies buzz the air. There is a whole universe here.

Seated on a smooth ledge, I can gaze out over the lake and feast on the display of forest and water and sky. The sun warms the flesh and gentle breezes carry refreshing natural scents. There are blues and reds and yellows and oranges but the season’s dominate colour is green – countless shades of green. Nature is at her summer best and I feel at home.

I’ve been fortunate to return ‘home’ many times during the last several years – usually staying for months at a time. I walk around barefoot wearing just a pair of shorts and live a simple life. The birds and animals are part of my family here – and they cautiously regard me with a seeming sense of curiousity. I love their company and can spend hours entranced watching them go about their daily routines.

I feel rejuvenated and inspired. This is where I produce my most creative work and ponder ideas and concepts and philosophies. The poet William Wordsworth said ‘Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher’. I’ve certainly learned to appreciate that sentiment.

It is also a place of healing through the simple act of re-connecting to Nature. This idea is currently popularized by the movement called ‘Grounding’ (or ‘Earthing’). Urban dwellers apparently suffer from the malady Nature deficit disorder and the remedy of reconnecting to Nature is being promoted by health care professionals such as cardiologist Dr. Stephen Sinatra and family doctor Dr. Laura Koniver.

In the documentary ‘Detoxifying Through Grounding’ they provide their own personal experience of being healed through grounding as well as patient testimonials which support the process. Dr. Koniver recounts how her baby daughter would constantly cry while she held her in her arms indoors but stopped crying when she stepped outside and stood barefoot on the ground. This led her to spending more time outside – barefoot and connected to the earth (grounding), with measureable benefits of well-being for herself and her daughter.

These results inspired her along with other medical professionals to further investigate the phenomenon of grounding. Their conclusions – we’re disconnected, and this disconnection may be a seriously overlooked cause of illness and suffering worldwide. Research compiled by The Earthing Institute shows that being grounded benefits the body in many ways.  

• Eliminates or substantially reduces inflammation
• Eliminates or substantially reduces pain
• Better sleep
• Improves energy
• Speeds wound healing
• Reduces stress

Not only does touching the earth have benefits, but ‘seeing ‘ it also performs its own magic. Gazing at the colour green produces the same miraculous health wonders and I can recall when hospital walls were green – a rarity today. Colours have their own energy and green is the energy of healing and of life. We see this when Nature comes to life each spring with its outburst of greening.

Yes, being home in Nature is one of the great joys of my life and I am amazed at the many benefits and surprises continuously being discovered.

There are storm clouds on the horizon however. Principally, our love affair with technology is a concern, with the social impetus of wireless connectivity for people and devices, and the movement driving the actual merging of people and technology- called trans-humanism.

These technological developments are moving us further away from Nature and into a digitally created world, fed by a wireless electro-magnetic fog which surrounds the entire planet and debilitates and weakens Nature’s energy fields and ours.

The seductive wonders of technology are remarkable but are we simply scratching the surface on the incredible wonders of Nature? It seems that humanity is throwing their lot behind technology to solve the social ills and challenges without consideration of the dangerous side-effects – when the solutions may already exist through discoveries in the natural world, including the talents latent in the natural, human body.

Can technological development and nature co- exist? Yes they can – but we must be mindful that we can exit without technology but not without Nature. So – walk barefoot on the Earth, gaze at the colour green and intend for balance and harmony, and the preservation, proliferation and the pristine health of Nature.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, Nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.  Anne Frank